


Love at First Toy Lightsaber Swing

by dawninthemtn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Costume Party, F/M, Fluff, Halloween, background stormpilot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 06:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20990057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawninthemtn/pseuds/dawninthemtn
Summary: From @reylo_prompts: Ben and Rey win ‘Best Couples Costume’ at a Halloween party and then have to awkwardly tell everyone else they’ve never met before.





	Love at First Toy Lightsaber Swing

Ben could not believe he let his mom convince him to do this.

Their phone call from a few days ago echoed in his mind as he parked his car annoyingly far down the tree-lined street.

“It’d be good to reacquaint yourself with your old friends,” she had said.

“Poe was never my friend, Mom.”

“Oh pish posh,” she dismissed. “You hung out all the time growing up.”

He hadn’t had a lot of choice as a child, as their parents were best friends, but he chose not to argue the point.

“Come on,” his mom continued. “You’ve moved back to town after years of being away, and Poe never left. He has tons of friends your age, some single…”

So that was it.

“Very subtle, Mother.”

“I just want you to have some fun. Have you gone out at all since you moved back?”

_No_.

“Yes.”

“Anything work-related does not count,” she said, reading him immediately.

“A Halloween party though?” Ben was practically whining. “Knowing Poe, he and everyone he interacts with will be fully costumed. I don’t do costumes, not since I was Mario in the fourth grade.”

“You were so cute,” said his mom affectionately. “The way your ears stuck out under that hat. I might still have it, come to think. You could just find some overalls…”

“I’ll figure it out,” said Ben, cutting her off. “Fine, one party, and I don’t want to hear any more about hanging out with Poe, k?”

So that was how Ben had found himself in an elaborate costume, crunching fallen leaves under his clunky black boots as he searched for Poe’s house number. Earlier that week, he had asked his new coworkers if anyone had any ideas or an old costume he could borrow. His office neighbor Armitage Hux, a massive nerd if he had ever met one, told him he could borrow the Kylo Ren costume he had used for the past year’s comic con circuit. It wasn’t exactly what he had had in mind, but he liked Star Wars well enough, so he went for it. It also didn’t hurt that Hux was maybe the only one who might possibly have a costume that could fit him.

Ben had to hand it to Hux. It was a pretty great costume. This was no pre-packaged Target special. The fabric making up the tunic, arm guards, and pants was thick and expensive, and the accompanying heavy velvet cape swished with every step he took. He even had a replica helmet that he held under one arm. Hux hadn’t missed one detail, from the belt to the gloves to the crossguard lightsaber on his hip.

As soon as he turned a corner, it was easy to find Poe’s house based on a stream of costumed, similarly-aged people all headed to the same front door. It was no surprise. Poe had never had any trouble making friends. Ben wouldn’t be surprised if every 20-something in Chandrila was invited to this party.

Maybe he should have brought Hux. It wasn’t like Ben was exactly social, but Hux actively repelled people. He would have been a good buffer. And something told Ben that Hux had plenty more costumes where this one came from.

He followed a group of giggling women dressed as various lingerie-clad animals. He envied them a little. At least they’d be able to withstand the heat of an overcrowded house party, unlike him, who was already sweaty.

The inside of the house was boisterous. Ben had no idea that anyone got this excited about Halloween after about age ten, but he was quickly getting educated as dozens of people bumped and grinded to Monster Mash. He was fairly certain Poe had cleaned out the entire Halloween aisle at Wal-Mart with how many fake cobwebs were hanging from every inch of the house. 

Dodging one, he ducked through an alcove into the kitchen, away from the costumed orgy that was Poe’s living room. He filled himself a drink and perched against a kitchen counter where he was able to watch the party from afar. He recognized a few faces from their high school, people he hadn’t seen for seven years. It would be a struggle to come up with any of their names. He sure hoped he wouldn’t have to.

He people-watched as he sipped his drink. He figured he must have looked intimidating or at least pissed-off enough, because no one who wandered in to grab a drink or snack tried to engage him. The only person who had spoken to him all night was Poe, dressed as Tom Cruise in Top Gun. He gave Ben a quick, “Solo! It’s been forever! Great costume!” before weaving back through the rest of his guests. Of course Poe would think he was as cool as Maverick.

After he had been there for about an hour, he decided he had given the night enough time to properly report back to his mom and decided to find Poe, say good-bye as briefly as possible, and bail.

But right then, the music stopped. Ben looked to the front of the living room, where Poe was standing with a microphone. A _microphone_. In his own house.

“It’s time,” said Poe dramatically, “for the Annual Poe and Finn Costume Contest.” 

Ben remembered that Leia mentioned that Poe had been seeing someone for a number of years. Finn. Ben figured it must be the shirtless man standing next to Poe in short shorts, dog tags, and aviator glasses, holding a volleyball. 

Poe ramped up the crowd by playing the opening to _Danger Zone_ as he and his boyfriend showed off their costumes.

“Ok, ok,” said Poe, turning down the music. “Obviously Finn and I win in every category, but since we are hosting this shindig, we are graciously recusing ourselves. So, here are the categories - Most Creative Costume, Funniest Costume, Sexiest Costume, Best Couples Costume, and Overall Best Costume.”

Ben barely paid attention as the room cheered for the winners that Poe listed. He didn’t know these people, and he wasn’t going to win a prize anyway.

“Now for Best Couples Costume,” boomed Poe. “This year’s coveted award goes to Kira and Kylo Ren!”

This made Ben’s ears prick up, and he scanned the room for the couple. He couldn’t help but feel a little petty. Maybe he didn’t have a Kira, but there was no way the guy’s costume was better than his.

After a minute, no one stepped forward, and the guests started tittering a bit.

“Come on, Kylo,” said Poe, looking in Ben’s direction. “Don’t be shy. Where’d your Kira go?”

Ben sank further into the alcove he was leaning against. There was no point, though. He knew he was impossible to miss. Everyone was staring at him.

After an extremely uncomfortable minute, a girl pushed her way through the crowd. Ben looked her over. He had only seen the two new Star Wars movies in the theaters, but based on his limited recollection, she was a dead ringer for the scavenger/Jedi Kira. She was tall and lean with her brown hair tied neatly into Kira’s three buns and dressed in her sandy-colored costume.

She was also a total stranger.

“I, uh, uh…” he sputtered, panicking, eyes darting from side to side at all the people waiting expectantly. Hadn’t Poe noticed him standing alone all night?

Then the girl winked at him. Confused, he watched her unleash a toy lightsaber from her brown leather waistband and ignite it. She stepped forward, holding the bright blue plastic blade in front of her face.

Ben just stood there staring.

The girl made some kind of annoyed face and met Ben’s eyes before looking down significantly at his belt. He didn’t move, so she did it again.

Suddenly, some kind of Star Wars sounding music came through the speakers. Poe must have pulled it up on his phone while Ben stood there gaping like a goldfish. The crowd cheered, and Ben finally decided to play along.

He pulled Hux’s probably-expensive replica lightsaber from his belt and turned it on. The girl’s frustrated face morphed into a big, brilliant smile, lighting up her face more than her lightsaber did. Ben barely had a moment to take it in before she lurched forward, smacking her blade against his. Hux’s lightsaber made a sound effect at the crash, and then another when the girl smacked it again, and then again. Dazzling smile or no, she was _vicious_.

When it was clear she was going to possibly actually murder him unless he fought back, he deflected her next swing, and then gave her lightsaber a good smack. The crowd, likely more than a little tipsy, whooped and hollered as Ben and the girl fought to the sound of Poe’s music.

At a large swell of the music, the girl caught his eye and winked at him again. Momentarily rendered dumb, he wasn’t prepared for her to smack his lightsaber right out of his hands. It clattered to the floor and he braced himself for her to deal a potentially painful final blow. Instead, though, he watched as she tossed her own lightsaber to the side.

She stepped up right against him, pulled him down by his tunic, and kissed him on the cheek to the extreme delight of the room. She lowered back onto her feet, gave him a killer smile, and then took his hand and led him to the front of the room where she grabbed a white envelope from Poe.

“Great performance, guys!” said Poe cheerfully through the microphone as they walked back to their abandoned lightsabers. “Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for - Overall Best Costume!”

With every guest focused on Poe, Ben picked up his lightsaber and slunk into the relative privacy of the kitchen. He didn’t dare look back to see if the pretty girl who had kissed him just moments before was still behind him.

He grabbed a cup of water and guzzled it, his mouth dry and head spinning.

“That was really fun,” said a voice. “But I am going to _kill _Finn.”

Ben turned to see the girl looking up at him.

“I’m sorry?” was all he could seem to say.

“Oh, Finn,” she said. “Do you know him? Or you’re probably here for Poe. Poe knows everybody. Anyway, Finn is my best friend and I think he noticed that you were Kylo and set up this whole thing as a joke. I swear I had nothing to do with this.”

“Um…”

“But I really enjoyed fighting with you,” she continued, smiling. She stuck out her hand. “I’m Rey.”

“Ben” he said, returning the shake. He looked down at her and noticed she had re-sheathed her lightsaber. “You, uh, really know how to make a performance. But, maybe I’m wrong, I mean I haven’t seen it since the theater, but I don’t remember Kira kissing Kylo.”

“Well, she hasn’t. I just _hope_ she will. Only two months until we find out! And trust me, I’m hoping for a way sexier kiss than the one I gave you.” 

Ben tried to force his erratic breathing to calm down. She gave him the perfect opening for him to make some kind of a move, say something flirtatious, but nothing came to his mind, and he certainly couldn’t have gotten it out of his mouth even if it had. She must have misread his reaction because she immediately put her hand on his chest and flew into apology mode.

“I’m so sorry,” she blurted out. “I don’t know what came over me, kissing a stranger. I know consent is a door that swings both ways, and I probably totally overstepped, I’m so sorry.”

Ben took the hand that was against him and lowered it gently.

“It’s fine,” he said. “It was just on the cheek. It was nothing.”

Crap, that made it seem like it was nothing to him. But it wasn't. He had really liked it, maybe too much. How pathetic was he that a random girl kissing his cheek was the most action he’d gotten in ages?

“Wait, hang on,” she said, looking at him, puzzled. “You haven’t seen it since the theater? That’s quite a costume for a casual fan.”

“Oh, right. It’s not mine. It’s my co-worker’s. He’s a big fan.”

“Must be a big man, too, to fit into this costume.” 

Ben felt very self-conscious as she continued to look him up and down. She must have sensed his discomfort because she changed the subject.

“How do you know Poe and Finn?” she asked.

This was easy territory. It was probably why she asked it, cutting a very socially awkward man a break.

“Poe and I grew up together,” said Ben. “Our moms were best friends. I recently moved back to town and Poe is trying to integrate me back into the young local community, I guess.”

She nodded. “Ah, that’s why I’ve never seen you before. Where have you been?”

“I went to undergrad and law school out of state, in Takodano. But I moved home this summer to take the bar exam and now I’m an associate at a firm downtown. So I guess I’m here to stay.” He gestured at her. “Are you from here?”

“No,” she said simply. “But I am now.”

“What do you do?” he asked, determined not to let the conversation die, the way they usually did when he talked to women.

“I’m a mechanic,” she said.

“Oh really? Where?” His dad was a mechanic, so he knew a lot of the garages around town.

“Millennium Motors. It’s on the corner of Falcon Rd and-”

“I know where it is,” he said, cutting her off. “That’s, uh, that’s my dad’s place.”

Her eyes widened. “Han is your dad?” Then she clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh! Of course! _Ben!_ You’re THE Ben! Lawyer Ben! Duh! Your parents have been so happy to have you back home.”

Ben was slightly unnerved. Poe worked for his mother, so he had been expecting plenty of people here who knew his mom, but this was a strange coincidence he wasn’t expecting.

“Uh, yep, that’s me.”

“Wow. Your mom came by at lunch a couple of days ago and said you might be here, but I had no idea how to find you or what you looked like, so I kind of forgot about it. They’re always trying to get me to meet you, you know.”

She smirked at him and he blushed. Then he wrinkled his brow.

“Hold up,” he said. “Did you by chance tell my mom what you were going to dress as?”

She looked at the ceiling, thinking. “Yeah, I think so. Why?”

Ben groaned and put his head in his hands. 

“What?” 

“I don’t think you should blame Finn for our award,” he replied. “This - this smells like my mom.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told her I was going to be Kylo Ren,” he explained. “And Poe works for her, you know. I’m sure that as soon she found out you were going to be Kira, she went to Poe and they cooked this up. It’s something she - they - would do. They used to prank me together when we were growing up.” He grimaced. “That’s not worth revisiting.”

“Well, I think it turned out okay, all things considered,” she said. She brandished the envelope that Poe had given her. “We got a prize, so that’s cool. And I got to live out my fantasy of fighting with Kylo Ren. So thanks for that.”

“Um, anytime.”

She smiled at him so earnestly that he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Look at you two lovebirds, definitely not fighting anymore!” 

Both Ben and Rey turned to the sound of Poe’s voice. He and Finn walked in, both grinning widely. 

“Shut up,” said Rey. “Very funny, both of you. And Finn, please do us all a favor and put a shirt on.”

“Ice Man didn’t need a shirt to play volleyball,” said Finn. “And neither do I.”

It was a perfect opportunity for Ben to sneak away, as he would normally do, but he found that he didn’t want to leave Rey without another word. He took a sip of his drink to cover his burning cheeks when he saw Poe waggle his eyebrows suggestively as he tilted his head slightly towards Rey.

“Come on, black Val Kilmer,” said Poe, taking Finn by the arm. “Let’s leave these two alone to - _talk._” 

Ben could have sunk into the floor. He took another sip, staring down into the cup instead of at what he really wanted to be looking at.

Lightly, she touched his elbow.

“I’m sorry about them,” she said. “They give me a really hard time about guys. So trust me, it’s not just your mom. It’s a whole conspiracy.”

He set his drink down, hands a little shaky.

“I’m sure it’s not you who needs the help,” he said without looking at her.

She laughed. “I assure you, it is. Hey-” She paused, and waited patiently until he met her eyes. “Want to step outside and talk? I mean - I mean, _actually_ talk.” She flushed. “If...you want to, I mean.” She pursed her lips tightly.

Ben’s shoulders crashed in relief. “You read my mind,” he told her.

Her face broke out into the big smile that Ben was quickly falling for. “Kira does that, you know,” she said, before taking his hand and leading him to the backyard.

* * *

“Want to be Kylo and Kira again? Do you think Hux still has the costume?”

“I guess it’d make sense,” said Ben. “Now that they’re actually a couple.” The past December, Ben had sat beside Rey in a theater as she squealed into clenched hands, trying not to make too much noise and disturb the other viewers, but also overwhelmed as she watched Kylo and Kira kiss passionately during a rainy lightsaber fight.

“And we could give them a much better show than we did last year,” said Rey, kissing him fully on the mouth. She kissed him again before she sank back against the couch. “It’s lame to reuse costumes, though. I’m sure we could think of something else. Your mom suggested Mario and Luigi.”

“No way,” said Ben, cringing.

Poe and Finn’s Halloween party was a week away. There was no way they could skip it. Over the past year, Ben and Rey had spent a lot of time with the couple. Ben liked Finn, but still mostly tolerated Poe. Despite the fact that Ben and Rey had been dating for nearly twelve months, Poe still gloated about getting them together every chance he got.

The only person who bragged more was his mother. Ben was so, so lucky that Rey was so tolerant and loving.

Ben wouldn’t let on, but he was grateful to both Poe and Leia. The party he had dreaded had turned out to be one of the most fateful nights of his life, putting the girl of his dreams directly in his path. They had spent the whole night talking on Poe’s back porch with an ease that he had felt with few others.

When the night ended, he and Rey, who had his cape wrapped around her bare shoulders, walked back to her car, where she told him she was ready for more than a cheek kiss.

He had been more than happy to deliver.

“I don’t know that we can top last year,” said Rey, sighing. “It was just too good.” She squeezed his hand.

Suddenly, an image flashed across Ben’s mind. He saw the two of them fighting again, but then this time, Ben tossing his own lightsaber to the side. Rey would smile, expecting him to come in for a kiss, but instead, he would drop to one knee and pull out a ring. He was certain that if he told Poe his plan, he’d make sure they won the contest and had their moment. That would be a lot to pull off in the next week, but he could do it.

“You know,” said Ben slowly. “Maybe reusing costumes isn’t such a bad idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the link to a video of an engagement very similar to this. So cute! https://youtu.be/buBPAw2dwBU
> 
> Thank you for reading! Happy Halloween!
> 
> **Micro epilogue added in comments**


End file.
